Types of Political Entities (Continued)

This section continues the exploration of political entities in AP Human Geography Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes, focusing on multinational states and autonomous regions.

Definition: A multinational state is a country with various ethnicities and cultures within its borders.

Example: The United States, Russia, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Nigeria are examples of multinational states.

Vocabulary: An autonomous or semi-autonomous region is a location within a state that is given authority to govern independently from the national government.

Example: Native American Reservations and Tribal Lands in the United States are examples of autonomous regions.

The section concludes with a summary of key concepts:

1. A state has defined territory, permanent populations, government, sovereignty, and recognition from other states.
2. A nation is a group of people with a common identity.
3. A nation-state is when a state has mostly one nation in it.
4. Stateless nations are nations without a state to occupy.
5. A multi-state nation consists of a nation of people that live in multiple states.
6. A multinational state is a country with various ethnicities and cultures/nations.
7. An autonomous or semi-autonomous region is a place that can govern itself, without the national government.

These concepts are crucial for understanding the complex political geography covered in Unit 4 AP Human Geography.

Political Processes

This section of AP Human Geography Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes focuses on key concepts and historical events that have shaped the modern political map.

Key Concepts:

Vocabulary: Sovereignty is a state's authority to control its territory and govern itself.

Definition: A nation-state is when the territory occupied by a particular nation of people is the same as the recognized boundary of that state.

Vocabulary: Self-determination is the right of all people to govern themselves. It often involves a nation, ethnicity, or former colony wanting to establish sovereignty over their own state, which may result in independence movements or devolution.

Vocabulary: Devolution occurs when power is shifted from the central government or administration to regional authorities, usually reflective of nations, due to centrifugal forces.

Historical Events Influencing the Modern Map:

1. Berlin Conference $1884$: European powers divided up Africa, establishing borders without regard to tribal cultures. This led to conflict and impacted the development of African countries and other colonies.
2. Colonialism and Imperialism
3. Treaty of Versailles $1920$: Ended World War I and redrew boundaries in Europe and Southwest Asia. Broke up German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires into individual states.
4. Establishment of Israel $1948$: Palestine, a former British colony, became the state of Israel. Led to ongoing conflict and the recognition of Palestine as a stateless nation by many countries.

These events and concepts are crucial for understanding the complex political geography covered in Unit 4 AP Human Geography.

Historical Events Shaping Political Geography (Continued)

This section of AP Human Geography Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes continues to explore significant historical events that have influenced the modern political map.

Decolonization and Independence Movements $1945-1990$:

• After the development of the United Nations and the end of World War II, the movement of decolonization began worldwide.
• Resistance to colonial power and political self-determination gained momentum.
• New countries were formed out of previous colonial empires throughout Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Highlight: The decolonization period marked a significant shift in global political geography, leading to the creation of numerous new independent states.

Fall of the Soviet Union $1991$:

• The collapse of communism and the Soviet Union ended the Cold War and led to the creation of newly independent states.
• This event changed the world balance of power significantly.
• Eastern Europe became less influenced by the Soviet Union $e.g., Yugoslavia, East Germany, Poland$.
• New states emerged, including Ukraine, Estonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, and the Central Asian republics often referred to as the 'Stans'.

Highlight: The fall of the Soviet Union reshaped the political map of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, creating new opportunities for self-determination and devolution.

The section concludes by reiterating the importance of sovereignty in political geography:

Definition: Sovereignty is a state's ability to govern itself.

Understanding these historical events and their impacts on political geography is crucial for students studying AP Human Geography Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes. These events demonstrate how concepts like self-determination, devolution, and the formation of nation-states play out in real-world scenarios, shaping the global political landscape we see today.

Introduction to Political Geography

This section introduces the fundamental concepts of political geography in AP Human Geography Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes. It explores how political space is organized through various types of political entities.

The primary building blocks of the world political map are independent states. A state is characterized by:

1. Defined territory with borders
2. Permanent populations
3. Government
4. Sovereignty, which is the right of a government to control and defend its territory
5. Recognition from other states

The section then delves into different types of political entities:

Definition: A nation is a group of people with a common identity through shared cultural traits such as language, religion, ethnicity, and heritage.

Example: The Maasai in East Africa, living in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, are a semi-nomadic ethnic group with a traditional culture and language.

Definition: A nation-state is when the borders of the nation match the borders of the state, ideally containing only one nation.

Example: While there are no "true" examples, countries like Japan $98$, Denmark $86.3$, and Iceland $81$ come close to the ideal of a nation-state.

Vocabulary: Stateless nations are nations of people without a state to occupy.

Example: The Kurds in Southwest Asia, the Basque in Spain, and the Palestinians in Israel are examples of stateless nations.

Definition: A multi-state nation consists of a nation of people that live in more than one state.

Example: After the fall of the Soviet Union, ethnic Russians living in former Soviet territories such as Estonia, Latvia, and Ukraine became a multi-state nation.